November Plans

Hello, Thanks for the likes and follows. I hope you are all doing well.

The flowers of the month are peonies and chrysanthemums. I did a little research and found that the meanings of these flowers are nice to remember – peonies are for romantic love (happy marriage), good luck, and prosperity; chrysanthemums are for joy, longevity, optimism, and undying friendship. The birthstones are citrine and topaz, and their meanings are similar to the flowers. I like to keep this type of information around; it inspires me, and I hope it inspires others as well.

A lot happens in November, besides the holiday at the end of the month. Writers all over the world are working on their most significant projects. I know I sound over the top, but it really feels like it. We are like 100,000+ marathon runners with our writing equipment. Some of us use pens and paper, others use computers, typewriters, and distraction-free devices. I signed up for two writing events. My grand ambition is leading me onto strange pathways.

I always have more than one writing project on the brain, and I’ve attempted to focus on just one for these monthly challenges, but I’ve never been able to succeed. There has been some progress, but I have yet to reach the finish line. I accept the type of writer I am and move forward.

The first is the Rough Draft Challenge by Sarra Cannon and the Heart Breathings community. The project I started there is Dead Girl Tale 2: Nox. I never gave up on this story. The fun thing about the Rough Draft Challenge is that you can set or reset your writing goals. Dead Girl Tale 2 is part of a four-story saga, which I call the Imperium/Galactic Alliance Universe or I/GAU. For most of the year, I’ve been struggling with laying out the outlines and characters for those stories. There has been a nearly two-month break. Here’s a brief summary of Dead Girl Tale 2: Nox:

The main character, Nox, was kidnapped as a teenager and sold in the Imperium to the shady side of that part of space. She was replaced by a clone, Nieve Xander, her original name. This clone dies from a clone-related illness. The Xander family grieved for their sister. Several years later, her DNA is picked up. They pull strings and bring her back to Galactic Alliance space, believing that she is a clone. Adult Nox has changed over the years and will do what she has to for her identity and autonomy.

The next challenge event, set up by ProWritingAid, is Novel November. Initially, I was going to use the same story for both events, but it didn’t feel entirely ethical. I changed the title to Fayte Maghnus Monogatari. I’ve written about this story before—or should it be called a serial? A decision for the future. This is my urban paranormal series. The goal for Novel November (NovNov) is to write 50,000 words. That breaks down to about 12,500 words per story, which is manageable. I’m rewriting the four novella-length stories I have for the monogatari. The working titles for these stories are: The Long Night, 2010/The Séance House, New Tale of a Body Thief, and Neighbors. Each story starts off with either Fayte or Maghnus as the main character. Fayte Devoe is a psychopomp with the mantle of Charon, the Ferryman. Maghnus Knight is a medium. Because of the nature of their abilities, they cross paths.

The task list this month appears to be huge. I thought I could squeeze one more developing story, but reality hits eventually. Therefore, the outline for the vampire romance is on hold until January 2026. Full disclosure, I will probably write notes on it and the characters, but the actual story is for the future as well.

The media update is going to be simple. I found myself nostalgic for the 2000s and 2010s. Maybe even the early 1990s. I have finally watched the completed live-action series of The Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness and caught up with the Mayfair Witches created by Anne Rice. Yes, I’m listening to both books – Discovery of Witches, book 1 in the All Souls series, and The Witching Hour, book 1 in the Mayfair Witches series. Why was I into all this paranormal drama? It was the end of October, and I am developing a vampire romance. I also realized I am still listening to Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead and Supernatural Academy by Jaymin Eve. These books are all under the umbrella of urban fantasy/paranormal, but they all read differently. And carry their own appeal. I try to elaborate when I complete the stories or remember.

The other thing I am looking forward to besides a really good Thanksgiving meal is Critical Role’s The Mighty Nein animation. I’m a big fan of Vox Machina and have watched the animated series multiple times. I have even watched campaigns, but they take longer.

That is all for now. This post is way longer than expected. If you’ve read it all, thanks again. I hope the rest of the week goes well for you all. For the writers, writing in challenges or not, you’ve got this. I want us all to succeed and remember to be kind.

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October Goals

Hello,

Thanks for the likes and follows. For October, the flowers are marigolds and cosmos. The birthstones are opal and tourmaline.

September ended, and we are all still dealing with the unexpected. An author more successful than I has a 90-day method, and she suggests a reset 4 times a year. Evaluate what works and what does not. Establish new strategies and sustain progress.

Writing update: Dead Girl Tale 2: Nox (DGT2) has been on pause for at least 2 weeks now. The change perspective method did not work as well as I hoped; instead of forcing words, I have moved back into a thinking phase for the scene. It was a little disappointing. I don’t want to tolerate setbacks, especially since DGT2 is part of a series.

This is where I tell an odd anecdote. I have multiple stories in various stages of development. I decided to be practical and look up ways to produce short stories. An excellent site for generating short story prompts is Reedsy. There are even weekly writing contests with rules and an application fee, but it’s worth it if you win or get an honorary mention. I’ve been a member since 2022, I think. So I saw a prompt and decided to write with it. I had no intention of entering a contest; my writing has not been consistent enough for that. I took the prompt and started to write, and the story fit easily into the FM Monogatari (FMM) writing project. This is a series of paranormal/urban fantasy short stories and novelettes featuring the same characters: Fayte (Fate) Devoe and Maghnus Knight. Monogatari is a Japanese word for a story. I am not an expert, and this is just a working title that I borrowed from a book I liked. I may have written about this project before. The idea has been in my mind since 2016. It’s paranormal and feels appropriate for October, and I have at least 2 complete stories for the anthology. They do need some edits, tweaks, and clean-ups, but they are in the almost-done phase of the writing process. Which was a happy surprise for me. All this time, I thought I was a mouse on a wheel, going nowhere, when in fact, progress was hiding in plain sight, or in a file folder.

This does not mean I have given up on DGT2. I will review my notes and adjust the outline to move the story where it needs to be.

Media update: The C-dramas I’ve been watching have reached the arc where the male lead and female lead have become a couple, and the real antagonist is revealing themselves. I’ve taken a break from them.

Instead, I updated my account to the streaming service Peacock and found myself rewatching the sci-fi drama Defiance and the urban fantasy Sanctuary. During the early 2000s, these were my go-to shows. In later seasons, the narratives got muddled, and I’m wondering if I was wrong. I found more problematic tropes and potential story waste. I was not aware of this before, but Peacock has produced a significant amount of original content. Some of the Peacock shows are fascinating and appropriate for October. The shows I’m going to mention for now are Girl in the Woods. It is a horror series based on the short film “Door in the Woods.” I am not a horror fan, but this felt more YA than just horror. I was intrigued to see how it would end. The other Peacock original is Vampire Academy, based on the book series by Richelle Mead. The series was considered a contemporary of the Twilight series. There was a movie that did not do well. Someone thought they could make it a TV show. Similar to what was done to The Mortal Instruments, a book series by Cassandra Clare, which became the TV show Shadowhunters. I would like to write more, but that is a post all on its own.

Goals for the month are to write 500 new words a day on the project of choice. This could mean DGT2 or FM Monogatari. I will also continue to look into writing prompts and see if I can apply them to the other story ideas and characters. I know I mentioned this before, but in the future for this website, I plan to launch a story page. The logistics of it all have yet to be finalized. The other goal is to complete the scenes in FMM and finalize the outlines of DGT2.

That is all for now. I wrote more than I planned to. This is what accountability looks like, I guess. I hope this post finds you all doing well. Don’t miss any positive opportunities and remember to be kind.

The End

Maintaining in Creative Chaos

Hello,

Thanks for the likes and follows. I hope the two weeks of September treated you well. We all know that somewhere in this world, it wasn’t for someone. Because of this, it is hard to remain positive. I maintain my optimism because I want what is best for my family, the world, and the future, and I strive to do my best to improve my actions. I can’t control others, only myself.

With this in mind, I write fiction. I have several writing projects at various stages of development. Some writing experts are against this. It splits focus and can become a problem in completing a story. At times, I would agree, and I’ve tried to keep focused on one writing project. The result is that I would lose interest, inspiration, or motivation for the story. Losing momentum is sometimes expected in the writing process; this fault has been an issue for me in completing stories. My remedy for this is to write shorter stories. However, my thinking process is grand. I came up with the Imperium/Galactic Alliance Universe saga. It is the setting for four distinct stories. These are the working titles in order of when I thought them up: Courier rdx, Dead Girl Tale: Az, Dead Girl Tale 2: Nox, Grave Signals. Although these stories are lovely, intriguing, and complex, I have at least four urban fantasies and two contemporary romances on the back burner of my mind. I don’t want it to happen, but I get overwhelmed. Not sure if that is the correct word for wanting to be creative and not being productive.

To be intentional with maintaining my creativity, I am engaging with some interesting C-dramas and reading a series of urban fantasies and alternate-world manhwas. I am reading the manhwas from the Tappy Toon app. At the moment, I’m looking at 4 alternate world fantasy manhwas. I find them fascinating because, although there is magic and time regression in some form, the characters are initially from the alternate world and not someone from our modern-day world. This is not unique, but somewhat different from the main character being of this modern age, and others due to a vehicle, overwork, or accident. The other series that I’m listening to is the Dark Files, the Shadow and Light series, the Witches of Hollow Cove, and the Witches of New York, which are all written by Kim Richardson. These stories are similar to the I/GA Universe saga. Each series is at least 4 books or more. The setting is New York City and the tri-state area. The main female leads do not know each other but are from the same world, hybrids of the supernatural light and dark. They don’t do the typical vampire/werewolf/dragon love interests. Kim Richardson came up with possibilities I did not think were plausible. Because giants and were-apes need love, too. I don’t know why I’m watching xianxia C-dramas except that I like the opening songs and I’m down for the wigs and costumes. I am well aware that none of these stories has anything to do with space. So occasionally I will listen to short sci-fi stories on YouTube. Some are ridiculous, some are redundant, but they all teach me something about storytelling and are brief.

That is all for now. I plan to elaborate on some of the topics I’ve written about in the post in the future. I may even give a review on a book, manhwa, or TV show. As long as the real world doesn’t intrude too much. These things will be done. I am hoping that until the next post, you all continue to do and be well and remember to be kind.

End

I’m Still Here

Hello,

It has been a while since I last posted. Of course, that was not my intention, but the environment and motivation played a significant role in my failure to keep in touch.

The last post was in February. I mentioned a few things and then went about my business, doing nothing for this site. This should’ve been the end, but I struggle to let go. Above all, I want to do a good job here, but I’m uncertain about what will be best for it or me. I’m well aware that websites are no longer as popular as they once were. Readers are not reading the way they used to. I agree because I’m not reading or listening to books the way I used to. If you’re not on TikTok, the next best thing is podcasting. I even considered doing that for a while.

By the crook, I have to post this. The inspiration to make this readable is very low. Several reasons for this, but the top three are: a. the state of my country; b. the lack of writing career development; c. time management. I’m not writing much about A because this isn’t what the blog/website is about. There are more intelligent individuals on the internet who are disseminating accurate information. B. is harder to write about because there are several factors, and TBH, C is tied in with B. I gave up two days of my day job to rest and recharge my body and brain for writing and environment, but that is not happening. It has been almost a year since the job shift, and I haven’t maintained this blog or website. I am having issues keeping on track.

Two weeks ago, it was my birthday. I am now half a century old, and not one of my overall goals has been met. I’ve come to terms with it. Tomorrow is the first of September and Labor Day. In New York City, it is the West Indian Day Parade. I’m not familiar with the history behind this, as June is typically designated as Caribbean Heritage Month. I will not be on the Parkway. I don’t have the energy for it. I will be at a barbecue with friends.

That is all for now. The plan is to do better and post next week. I hope you had a great August and a better September. Remember to be Kind.

End